The present invention relates to a new and improved construction of an overhead cable transport installation, especially an aerial cableway.
Generally speaking, the overhead cable transport installation of the present development, especially the aerial cableway, is of the type comprising vehicles which are continuously moved along a disembarking or exiting section or path, an embarking or entry section or path and a transfer section or path which operatively interconnects the disembarking section or path with the embarking section or path. The vehicles, after arriving at the transfer section, are each operatively engaged by a respective entrainment member of a revolvingly or circulatingly driven clock conveyor and then transferred to the embarking section or path.
In the case of overhead cable transport installations there generally exists the problem that the travelling transport cable, functioning at least as a traction element for the vehicles which are operatively coupled with the cable, alters its length both under the influence of temperature fluctuations and due to changes in loads, for instance caused by changes in passenger traffic frequency during the course of operation of the overhead cable transport installation. These length changes of the cable cause a change in the mutual spacing between neighboring vehicles. Since the cable has a predetermined revolving or circulating velocity, there thus is disturbed the so-called clock, in other words the predetermined time interval between successive vehicles.
Hence, the clock conveyor provided for certain existing aerial cableways is assigned the task of re-establishing the clock or time interval between successive vehicles during passage of the vehicles through one of the stations. This is accomplished by correcting the geometric spacing or mutual distance between neighboring vehicles. Of course, the change in the mutual position or spacing of the arriving or inbound vehicles, caused by changes in the length of the cable, can lead to the result that at the transfer section or path, to which the vehicles are transferred by the conveying means of the disembarking section or path, undesirably come to a state of standstill before they are engaged by an entrainment member of the clock conveyor. Hence, such clock conveyor must thus accelerate a vehicle, when engaged by an entrainment member thereof, from a standstill or stationary state. It will be appreciated that such, in turn, requires at least an appropriately sturdy dimensioning or design of the clock conveyor as well as an appropriate design of the delivered output power of the drive for the clock conveyor.
During the shifting of the mutual position or, what also may be termed the phase of the vehicles, there also can arise the situation that a vehicle arrives too late at the transfer section or path, in other words, directly behind an entrainment member of the clock conveyor. When this happens such entrainment member travels in an empty state or condition, in other words without entraining the vehicle, through the transfer section. It will be recognized that the left behind vehicle will first then be pushed along and out of the transfer section by a trailing vehicle which is engaged by a further entrainment member. When such an operating condition arises then the aerial cableway must be shut down in order to shunt out or remove the vehicle causing the disturbance.